Starting Slow: Community informed background research on Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts

Jeff Burnett

Starting Slow: Community informed background research on Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts

Year: 2020

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Community Archaeology in 2020: Conventional or Revolutionary?" , at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Little archaeological research has been conducted on the historic black communities of Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts despite the long history of African and African American life on the island. This paper discusses potential archaeological sites related to African American presence in the town of Oak Bluffs, formerly Cottage City, the results of archival and oral historical research, and the researcher’s work with local historical experts and descendant community members to identify potential sites of archaeological significance and appropriate research questions. This research refocuses archaeology as a resource for a community interested in their past, which may or may not be appropriate depending on situations, actors, and circumstances. Topics explored will be landownership, conceptions of freedom and success, and community construction. The conclusions of this preliminary research will be used to explore the viability of an archaeology project focusing on the community of Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts in the 19th and early 20th centuries.